Warnings: mentions of human experimentation, fire, betrayal, guns Themes: Adrenaline, rescue, betrayal, protection
Memory One The Matoi tech rocks with the force of the flames that had hit it from the side. You grit your teeth and swing your mech to face the vast wall of a man descending to land before you. Kray Foresight hadn't put himself back under control. Kray's hair still rippled with Burnish flames and his prosthetic arm vented Burnish flames like a car expelling exhaust fumes.
Your eyes stay locked on him as he bends the mech subtly, shielding Lio's body with the machine. The flame on Lio's chest is tiny and fading, triangular ashes flutter into the air. He's running out of time. Kray's voice is a boom of sound, full of disgust. "Are you still alive? You're so annoying." You can hear what sounds like laughter on the wind just like you have heard over and over again since Kray stopped pretending to care about you.
You stare him down, "Don't mess with rescue operations. Back off!" You move the hand of hyour mech a little closer to the drill gear that Lucia had made for you. The vast chamber around you is dark with low lighting from below. You can't see how many people locked in the chambers along the walls are alive. You can't focus on that. You will save all you can.
Kray lifts his arm and his Burnish flames flow down the length of his arm and snap far past his fingers like a gun being cocked. "I'll extinguish you!" He snaps. You can feel the distant heat of the flames. You move forward, seizing up the drill gear as you fires back, "Extinguishing," You surge forward your words a roar of challenge as you use the jet system in your Matoi mech to put it into a spin. "is my job!"
Kray pulls his arm back as he charges and thrusts his arm forward as if he were hitting you with a straight punch. The fire engulfs your mech and yourself. The heat presses in and at first you think it will work. The spinning drill cuts through the fire but that changes in seconds. The concentrated flames melt the drill and the arm, leaving you defenseless against the onslaught. You throw your arms up in a vain last attempt to block it.
But the flames don't hurt you. You can feel the fire raging and pouring over you like a vicious tide set to blow you back. But it doesn't burn you. You put one foot forward and hold steady against the fire. Could it? "What?" Kray makes a noise of surprise and redoubles his fire. It doesn't burn you still. You march steadily forward matching Kray's stare with your own until the fire cuts off when you're in reaching distance of the man you used to admire and you raise the tiny flame that had shielded you before in your gloved hand.
"Same thing as earlier. Lio's fire protected me." You've known Kray since you were a child and the fury in his face now is such an unknown as the man glares at the flame in your hand. "This shielded me from your flames." You snap your hand closed around it. It's your turn to protect the little flame. Together you have a job to do. Kray's fury only grows and he almost growls. You jerks your closed hand up towards yourself pointing at yourself with your thumb. "I'll save him." You point up and around to indicate the world around you. "And Earth." Then you point at Kray himself with your fingers loose save for the ones holding the little flame. "And you too."
Kray blinks and his eyes go wide with surprise. He raises his head and you take advantage of his confused, "Me?" To sucker punch him right in the face. Kray reels back with the force of the blow and there's a kind of ringing in the air as Lio's stronger flame aims the force of the strike. Your body is surrounded by the flame's protection as its strength focuses into your fist. You delivers your second strike to the side of Kray's head and he crumples to the ground. You glare down at his unconscious body, "Shut up and watch." The fire ripples over you as you turn and head back to where Lio is slowly breaking apart.
Memory Two The Burnish flames are hot on your heels as you sprint for the floor to ceiling window just ahead of you. You clutch the girl in your arms a little tighter. The extinguishing gel your jacket around her is soaked in will buy her time if this goes bad. But it won't end bad because you're going to make it.
Your lungs burn a bit as you put every ounce of speed into getting to your goal. The flames scream as they tear up the walls and floor behind you. Sometimes Burnish flames seem alive. You charge up to the window and stop, re-balancing the girl you are rescuing to get at your matoi staff. The matoi is a long staff with trailing cloth threads and similar staves were used by ancient fire fighters in the far east. You're happy to prove to your comrades how effective they are.
The heat feels like someone is pressing a hand against your back to drive you to the ground but you stay set and fires the hook-shot from your matoi. It breaks the window glass and wraps around the waiting plane's wing. You are pulled through and the exhilarating rush of doing exactly what you feel you were born to do hits you as you shout. "Captain! I got her!" You laugh in triumph as you keep holding the girl tight while the plane slowly glides to find a safe spot to land. The wind blows against you and you know you have found exactly where you belong.
Memory Three "Then, what will you do?" The whisper-like measured voice of the tall, broad-shouldered man in white that is Kray Foresight is as calm as he has ever heard it. It doesn't make the pain he feels any better. Kray really has been cutting up and experimenting on the Burnish. He can't allow this to continue. The glass of the control room's observation window is cool against his fingers as he says, "I'll extinguish the Earth's magma!"
He raises his head to look up at the blonde haired man he has always considered his hero and his heart leaps at the smile on his face. He can turn Kray away from this. He can put a stop to this here and now. Kray looks up away from him with a soft laugh. "I knew you'd say that." The hard metal of the barrel of a gun presses against his back and the familiar click of a cocked weapon tears his hopes apart.
He looks back in shock. The Kray he knows would never do this. "We're short of time. We can't have an idiot making a fuss," Kray continues in a business like tone. Seriously? Would he really allow this to happen? The Great Kray who seemingly looked out for the city he ran? He looks at him again, "Gov, why?"
Silence claims the control room for a moment, "Don't call me, 'Gov'!" Kray shouts and moves faster than he'd ever seen him move, his prosthetic arm a jackhammer that smashes into his stomach and lifts him off his feet. The air leaves him in a rush. It feels like there's static in his mind as he hits the back wall then falls to the ground. The pain is a counterpoint to the shock still holding his mind in its grasp.
What the fuck?
What the fuck just happened? He raises his head through the pain. Backlit by the harsh lights of the lab Kray's face is in shadow and his voice once again calm but only just. He can hear anger he's never heard before simmering just beneath the surface. "I've always hated it."
"Eh?" This can't be real. This has to be some kind of dream. Kray's voice rises again, cutting through his self denial like a knife. "You've always been an eyesore to me!" Then he turns in clear dismissal, his eyes on the guards. "Take him away." What had he done to deserve this? Kray always hated him? No. That couldn't be true. The guards hook their arms under his armpits and haul him up while the shock keeps bouncing around inside his head. He looks back and forth between the guards and Kray. "What the hell? What's going on, Kray?" He's pulled through the door and it slides shut behind him. He protests the whole way.
But he knows what this is. No matter how hard he tries to deny it. This is betrayal. This is the truth he was blind to.
Galo Thymos | Sam
Themes: Adrenaline, rescue, betrayal, protection
Memory One The Matoi tech rocks with the force of the flames that had hit it from the side. You grit your teeth and swing your mech to face the vast wall of a man descending to land before you. Kray Foresight hadn't put himself back under control. Kray's hair still rippled with Burnish flames and his prosthetic arm vented Burnish flames like a car expelling exhaust fumes.
Your eyes stay locked on him as he bends the mech subtly, shielding Lio's body with the machine. The flame on Lio's chest is tiny and fading, triangular ashes flutter into the air. He's running out of time. Kray's voice is a boom of sound, full of disgust. "Are you still alive? You're so annoying." You can hear what sounds like laughter on the wind just like you have heard over and over again since Kray stopped pretending to care about you.
You stare him down, "Don't mess with rescue operations. Back off!" You move the hand of hyour mech a little closer to the drill gear that Lucia had made for you. The vast chamber around you is dark with low lighting from below. You can't see how many people locked in the chambers along the walls are alive. You can't focus on that. You will save all you can.
Kray lifts his arm and his Burnish flames flow down the length of his arm and snap far past his fingers like a gun being cocked. "I'll extinguish you!" He snaps. You can feel the distant heat of the flames. You move forward, seizing up the drill gear as you fires back, "Extinguishing," You surge forward your words a roar of challenge as you use the jet system in your Matoi mech to put it into a spin. "is my job!"
Kray pulls his arm back as he charges and thrusts his arm forward as if he were hitting you with a straight punch. The fire engulfs your mech and yourself. The heat presses in and at first you think it will work. The spinning drill cuts through the fire but that changes in seconds. The concentrated flames melt the drill and the arm, leaving you defenseless against the onslaught. You throw your arms up in a vain last attempt to block it.
But the flames don't hurt you. You can feel the fire raging and pouring over you like a vicious tide set to blow you back. But it doesn't burn you. You put one foot forward and hold steady against the fire. Could it? "What?" Kray makes a noise of surprise and redoubles his fire. It doesn't burn you still. You march steadily forward matching Kray's stare with your own until the fire cuts off when you're in reaching distance of the man you used to admire and you raise the tiny flame that had shielded you before in your gloved hand.
"Same thing as earlier. Lio's fire protected me." You've known Kray since you were a child and the fury in his face now is such an unknown as the man glares at the flame in your hand. "This shielded me from your flames." You snap your hand closed around it. It's your turn to protect the little flame. Together you have a job to do. Kray's fury only grows and he almost growls. You jerks your closed hand up towards yourself pointing at yourself with your thumb. "I'll save him." You point up and around to indicate the world around you. "And Earth." Then you point at Kray himself with your fingers loose save for the ones holding the little flame. "And you too."
Kray blinks and his eyes go wide with surprise. He raises his head and you take advantage of his confused, "Me?" To sucker punch him right in the face. Kray reels back with the force of the blow and there's a kind of ringing in the air as Lio's stronger flame aims the force of the strike. Your body is surrounded by the flame's protection as its strength focuses into your fist. You delivers your second strike to the side of Kray's head and he crumples to the ground. You glare down at his unconscious body, "Shut up and watch." The fire ripples over you as you turn and head back to where Lio is slowly breaking apart.
Memory Two The Burnish flames are hot on your heels as you sprint for the floor to ceiling window just ahead of you. You clutch the girl in your arms a little tighter. The extinguishing gel your jacket around her is soaked in will buy her time if this goes bad. But it won't end bad because you're going to make it.
Your lungs burn a bit as you put every ounce of speed into getting to your goal. The flames scream as they tear up the walls and floor behind you. Sometimes Burnish flames seem alive. You charge up to the window and stop, re-balancing the girl you are rescuing to get at your matoi staff. The matoi is a long staff with trailing cloth threads and similar staves were used by ancient fire fighters in the far east. You're happy to prove to your comrades how effective they are.
The heat feels like someone is pressing a hand against your back to drive you to the ground but you stay set and fires the hook-shot from your matoi. It breaks the window glass and wraps around the waiting plane's wing. You are pulled through and the exhilarating rush of doing exactly what you feel you were born to do hits you as you shout. "Captain! I got her!" You laugh in triumph as you keep holding the girl tight while the plane slowly glides to find a safe spot to land. The wind blows against you and you know you have found exactly where you belong.
Memory Three "Then, what will you do?" The whisper-like measured voice of the tall, broad-shouldered man in white that is Kray Foresight is as calm as he has ever heard it. It doesn't make the pain he feels any better. Kray really has been cutting up and experimenting on the Burnish. He can't allow this to continue. The glass of the control room's observation window is cool against his fingers as he says, "I'll extinguish the Earth's magma!"
He raises his head to look up at the blonde haired man he has always considered his hero and his heart leaps at the smile on his face. He can turn Kray away from this. He can put a stop to this here and now. Kray looks up away from him with a soft laugh. "I knew you'd say that." The hard metal of the barrel of a gun presses against his back and the familiar click of a cocked weapon tears his hopes apart.
He looks back in shock. The Kray he knows would never do this. "We're short of time. We can't have an idiot making a fuss," Kray continues in a business like tone. Seriously? Would he really allow this to happen? The Great Kray who seemingly looked out for the city he ran? He looks at him again, "Gov, why?"
Silence claims the control room for a moment, "Don't call me, 'Gov'!" Kray shouts and moves faster than he'd ever seen him move, his prosthetic arm a jackhammer that smashes into his stomach and lifts him off his feet. The air leaves him in a rush. It feels like there's static in his mind as he hits the back wall then falls to the ground. The pain is a counterpoint to the shock still holding his mind in its grasp.
What the fuck?
What the fuck just happened? He raises his head through the pain. Backlit by the harsh lights of the lab Kray's face is in shadow and his voice once again calm but only just. He can hear anger he's never heard before simmering just beneath the surface. "I've always hated it."
"Eh?" This can't be real. This has to be some kind of dream. Kray's voice rises again, cutting through his self denial like a knife. "You've always been an eyesore to me!" Then he turns in clear dismissal, his eyes on the guards. "Take him away." What had he done to deserve this? Kray always hated him? No. That couldn't be true. The guards hook their arms under his armpits and haul him up while the shock keeps bouncing around inside his head. He looks back and forth between the guards and Kray. "What the hell? What's going on, Kray?" He's pulled through the door and it slides shut behind him. He protests the whole way.
But he knows what this is. No matter how hard he tries to deny it. This is betrayal. This is the truth he was blind to.